Contrary to popular belief, Miley Cyrus may not be quite as outrageous as she has been portrayed (Picture: Getty)

Popstrel Miley Cyrus continues to get up the noses of the world’s media, just recently pulling out a suspected reefer at the MTV awards, indulging in shenanigans with dwarfs, and sporting a series of costumes which wouldn’t cover the modesty of a rodent.

Much as one might find this kind of behaviour odd in spiritual leaders, school teachers and politicians (who would never do such things – stop laughing) in the annals of music history, there have been plenty of rotters performing far darker deeds than Miley’s recent misdemeanours. However, even the most extreme artiste would have to go some way before they could cap the battered pate of US rock performer GG Allin.

Allin, now departed, could have made the barmiest crew of cutthroats darken their trousers just by finding out he was in the same hemisphere. Granny wouldn’t have invited him round for tea, and, one might argue, had history put two characters centuries apart in the same time frame, Genghis Khan might have thought twice about it.

Sort of puts Miley showing her knickers in public into perspective really, doesn’t it?

GG began his rock’n’roll career in a traditional enough manner, but as the 1980s reared its carefully coiffured head and the world was thrilling to the sanitised warblings of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Wham, Allin was going the other way with the rapidity of a hog down a waterslide.

His material featured a litany of subjects liable to cause extreme offence, ditto the names of the bands he appeared with. Worse still, the Allin live experience featured displays of self-mutilation, random acts of violence against audience members, and coprophogia (don’t look that up if you don’t know what it means, and if you do know, well, you shouldn’t… You’ve just looked it up, haven’t you? Told you not to).

Suffice to say, if GG had been around when The One Show first went on air, they wouldn’t have been clamouring for him to appear over Michael Ball.

GG’s inevitable death, in 1993, involved the whole gamut of rock ‘n’ roll excess. He died of a heroin overdose shortly after trashing the venue where he performed his last show.

Prior to this, he took a stroll round the neighbourhood naked and covered in blood, which wouldn’t have created such a kerfuffle if the neighbourhood in question hadn’t been Manhattan.

Apparently, he was buried in a leather jacket and jockstrap, with a bottle of bourbon. Reports reveal the coffin to have been open and it wasn’t, shall we say, a traditional send off, with some of the mourners finding some comedy at GG’s demise and not behaving as people in emotional turmoil might be expected to.

Most of the worst stuff GG allegedly got up to has been left out here as I’m not sure even 20 years on any of us are ready for it. Calling him hardcore doesn’t half cover it.

Sort of puts Miley showing her knickers in public into perspective really, doesn’t it?

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